Update

I had hoped to get some more writing done last night, but I didn't get a chance. I had to be up early today, and I forgot about it until a couple hours after I should have gone to bed. So, to make up for it, I just did some writing now. For some reason, I seem to be at my creative best in the wee hours of the morning. But at this point in the novel, I'm still in territory that I've firmly fleshed out in my mind, so getting the creative juices flowing was no problem.

My word count is up to over 6,000 words now, which seems like a good pace. If I can keep it up, I should have 50,000 words banged out before I know it. I plan on trying for another 2,000 words tonight, but we'll see what happens.

Stephen King, in his book On Writing, suggested that you should write three pages every day. I've felt a little guilty that I haven't done anything approaching that up till now. But so far, I've knocked out 11 pages in about three days, so it looks like I'm finally following his advice. Let's hope I can keep this up.

I paused in my writing about halfway through Chapter Three. I hope to at least finish that chapter tonight, and maybe get started on Chapter Four. I'm still working on ideas that have been percolating for a while now. The details get more and more vague somewhere around Chapter 5, but I know where I'm going with the story, even if I'm not fully sure how to get there yet. However, the whole point of this National Novel Writing Month exercise is just to write away, so I'm not too worried.

The only thing at this point that could get me worried is if I start slacking off. That's part of the reason why I'm writing these blogs, to keep myself motivated. If I don't follow through with this, I'll have documented evidence of my laziness right here where anyone can see it. The thought of the shame that will cause should help keep me going.

Finishing Chapter Three should be a breeze. As I said, I've had the whole thing mapped out in my head for months, so I know exactly where I'm going with this section of the story and how I want to get there. After a while, the road gets a bit rougher, but I've marked out most of the landmarks in my head, so I at least know where I'm going. I'm going to stop with the road metaphor here before I beat it to death.

So, 6,000 words down, 44,000 to go. And a little under four weeks to do it in. This is going to be interesting.

-E. Maxfield Moen

NaNoWriMo Day 2

Well, I finished Chapter 1 of Mage War. I found myself introducing something a lot sooner than I'd expected. With only 50,000 words to work with, I gotta keep the pace fast and flowing. I posted all of Chapter 1 on the site as an excerpt of the novel, I figured that should be enough to give anyone checking me out a good idea of my writing style and the feel of the novel.

It's funny, 50,000 words sounds like a lot at first blush, but it really isn't. Chapter one came out to just over 4,000 words. If I keep that average going, the book will end up being 12 and a half chapters. Of course, that's just for this site, I won't have any such constraints when I begin reworking the novel for actual publication. But I want to try and fit in as many of the ideas I've had for this novel into that 50,000 words. I think maybe one thing I'll do in this draft is exclude a couple side characters I'd planned on using. It should improve the pacing and the wordcount without seriously damaging the story. Especially as I've already decided to expand the role of some other characters.

Anyway, I think I'm doing pretty well with this so far. I'm pretty confident I'll have those 50,000 words banged out before the deadline on November 30th. I'll post more developments here as they occur.

Crossing the Rubicon

I decided to join the National Novel Writing Month, which started today. It's an organization designed to kick authors like me in the butt to get writing. Basically, it runs through the month of November, and writers who sign up get 30 days to pump out a 50,000 word novel.

Obviously, 30 days isn't long enough to thoroughly research, revise, and edit a novel, even one that short. The idea is to just put your imagination and creativity into overdrive and just write. The actual quality of the novel is secondary. This made me a bit nervous when I was thinking about joining. It seemed to me like it glorified hack writing. But, in the end, I decided that I'd try and see what a deadline does to motivate me. If nothing else, by the end of this month, I should have a very rough first draft.

The story I decided to go with for this is one I've been kicking around for a while. I'm calling it Mage War. In essence, it picks up right where "Where Do We Go From Here" left off. That short story ended with Dr. Darrell Edwards III making a presentation at a scientific conference. Mage War starts off a few hours after the conference, with Darrell and his friends watching the fallout from his conference and deciding their next steps. I've had a vague outline in my head for a while of what I want to do with the story, but I haven't really written anything yet. So I thought that this would be a good novel to write this month.

I signed up today, and as it'll be midnight in 5 minutes, that'll give me 29 days to get going on this novel. The timing is a bit annoying, since I'm still taking classes this month, but if I hold off, I'll have to wait till next year to try again. No time like the present. Maybe the added constraint of balancing this with my schoolwork will motivate me more.

-E. Maxfield Moen

A lot of work to do

I'm back in school right now, so I haven't had much time lately to devote to writing. The classwork is pretty heavy, and even when I have time to write, I'm usually too overloaded to think about it much. Having said that, I did get started on the second draft of my current story. The tentative title is "Little Lucy," though I'll probably end up changing that.

I finally heard back from Leading Edge regarding "The Mind's Retreat." Another rejection slip, though after all this time I'd been expecting it. Just like with "Long and Short," I got critiques from two of the editors. There's some good stuff in there. I'm heartened by phrases like "You did a good job..." "I like the way it unfolds," "...engaging plot," and "Your writing is great..." The more critical parts highlight some things I need to work on. Both editors mention that there's some stuff that doesn't get a proper explanation, which is probably the result of my having cut it down to about half it's original size. I was perhaps more eager than I should have been, and cut out stuff I should have kept, as well as keeping stuff that could have been removed. I'll have to go over the story again with that in mind.

One thing that embarrasses me a bit. One editor stated that I fell into the rather elementary trap of telling, not showing. He didn't give any specifics, so I'm going to have to go over the story carefully and see where I erred. The same editor mentioned that I bring up a lot of jargon in the story that isn't explained. That he did list in detail, and I can see what he means. I can see without even rereading the story where I can pare down on that. He also says that there should be more action. This is a valid point, I do mention a lot of action happening in the backstory, which I could easily incorporate.

One editor said he was dissatisfied with the ending, the other said he liked the resolution. I think when I rework the story, I'll do it with more of an eye towards the former's opinion. I think I can address his critique of the ending by only changing a few words.

I also need to go back and do some work on "Long and Short." I reread the critiques I got for that story, and I can see a few points in the story I should shore up. But I think that before I work on either of those stories, I should get to work on "Little Lucy" first. I want to get it ready to start sending out. I'm about halfway through my current semester, so I should be able to get some serious work done there after I do my finals. Hopefully even before that. There's a break coming up for Thanksgiving, I should spend that time working on my writing.

I want to get back to submitting stories, but I need to work on the three I just mentioned first. I think I'll look for somewhere to send "The Last Day" in the meantime. I think I'll send it along to Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. And if Space and Time magazine is ever open for submissions again, I'll start sending stuff their way as well. Either way, my priority right now is to finish this semester and get my Associates in Liberal Arts degree.

-E. Maxfield Moen

A Shot In The Arm

Well, getting two rejections in one day seems to have been the elixir I needed to get back to work. After writing my last blog, I got down to finishing my current story. I took a quick glance at it when I was done, and can see a lot of revision will be necessary. I changed my mind about a point or two about partway through, leaving the end product a bit confused and inconsistent. I think I've come to a decision about which way I want to go, so I'm going to work on the next draft with that in mind.

I'm also trying to decide if I should send "Long and Short" over to Intergalactic Medicine Show. I'm not sure if it's the kind of thing they're looking for. I think I'll read a couple more issues of that magazine before deciding. In any case, there's a couple suggestions the editors of Leading Edge gave me for the story, and I should give them some thought before sending "Long and Short" anywhere else.

I haven't heard from Leading Edge yet regarding my latest submission to them, though I won't be surprised if that takes another month. Space and Time Magazine's website still says they're closed for submissions, so there's no point in sending anything their way. Aside from that, I'm going to start researching more places to send my work to. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the key is persistence. I don't plan on giving up any time soon.

-E. Maxfield Moen

Two at once

After writing that last entry, I decided to check my email in case Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show had gotten back to me. It turns out they had. Two rejections in one day.

But, I'm not gonna let that demoralize me. I just gotta keep writing, keep sending out manuscripts; in other words, keep persisting.

-E. Maxfield Moen

Well, that was fast

I heard back from Zahir today, about two months earlier than I'd expected a response. Another rejection.

I still have two other stories I'm waiting to get a reply from. I imagine I'll be hearing from Leading Edge soon, I sent them a story back in March. The other story was sent via email, so I'll have to keep an eye out for that.

I have the beginnings of another story bubbling in my head. I'll try and work on that, as well as the stuff I'm already working on. In the meantime, my latest rejection slip goes on my fridge along with all the others.

-E. Maxfield Moen